Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has launched a sharp counter-attack against President Bola Tinubu, insisting that Nigeria’s worsening cost-of-living crisis demands an urgent policy rethink rather than rigid adherence to reforms that extract wealth from citizens. ​
The fiery response came in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, August 21, 2026, by Atiku’s Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu. It directly followed criticism from the Presidency on Thursday evening, August 20, 2026, where Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, labeled Atiku’s energy proposals in his Atiku Economic Recovery Plan (AERP) 2027 as “archaic,” “fiscally reckless,” and a demonstration of “economic ignorance”.
​Rejecting the Presidency’s claims, Atiku argued that the current administration lacks the moral standing to lecture anyone on economic management after presiding over policy shocks that have eroded household purchasing power. ​”If economic ignorance had a presidential seal, Tinubu and his family would be its official logo,” Shaibu declared in the statement.
“The real ignorance is believing suffering is economic policy. Tinubu removed the subsidy from Nigerians’ pockets, but he is yet to remove the questions from his books”. ​Atiku dismissed the notion that his plan seeks to resurrect the opaque, corrupt import-subsidy bazaar of the past. Instead, he clarified that his framework proposes a targeted, capped, budgeted, time-bound, and independently audited production-support mechanism tied to domestic crude supply and refining outputs. ​
“My proposal is not to resurrect the old subsidy regime. We will move subsidy from importation to production, from middlemen to Nigerian refineries, and from unverifiable claims to verifiable barrels. The principle is simple: the subsidy will follow the barrel,” Atiku stated.
​The former Vice President also challenged the Federal Government’s account of fuel subsidy elimination, questioning how roughly ₦12 trillion in “Energy Security Expenses” appeared in NNPC Limited’s audited reports across 2023 and 2024.
​”If subsidy is dead, why are under-recoveries alive? If corruption was eliminated, why has opacity survived?” Atiku questioned. “Tinubu gave Nigerians the worst of both worlds: he removed the relief but retained the opaque costs. Nigerians got the pain; government kept the bill”.
​The heated exchange underscores the escalating political and economic debates over petrol pricing, energy sector deregulation, and inflation management as political actors refine their economic positions ahead of the 2027 general elections.
